June 8, 2020 Show with Brian G. Hedges on “Thriving Grace: Twelve Ways the Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth”

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carwile, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions and now here's your host

Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnzen your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio wishing you all a happy Monday on this 8th day of June 2020 and it's great to have back on the program after a long absence

Brian G. Hedges who is lead pastor of Redeemer Church in Niles, Michigan and author of a number of books including

The Story of His Glory, Active Spirituality, and Watchfulness, Recovering a

Lost Spiritual Discipline. Today we're going to be addressing one of his latest books that he co -authored with Dr.

Joel Beeky who is no stranger to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio has been a guest a number of times.

The book is titled Thriving Grace, 12 Ways the Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Brian G.

Hedges. Thank you Chris good to be back today. I'm going to give our listeners our email address right away if they have questions that they'd like to ask of their own it's chrisarnzen at gmail .com

c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n at gmail .com and as always please give us at least your first name your city and state of residence and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Before we go into the main theme which is the theme of your book co -authored with Dr.

Beeky tell our listeners something about Redeemer Church in Niles, Michigan. Our Redeemer Church is more or less a non -denominational church but reformed in our theology and I've been the pastor of the church for 17 years now we're just beginning to meet again after three months of live streaming and things like that so this coming

Sunday we opened the doors up again for the first time since March 15th so we're very excited to be back together as a congregation.

Now how would you describe it in more detail is it baptistic is it paedo -baptist?

We are baptistic the church originally was founded as a baptist church and a few years ago we kind of renamed rebranded the church and went through that whole process so our

Redeemer Church now so we're unaffiliated with any denomination we're kind of in the gospel coalition stream of reformed thinking churches and people coming from a pretty wide variety backgrounds so lots of people from baptistic backgrounds but we've also had people come from presbyterian churches or christian reformed or anglican or even occasionally some charismatics people at least with a charismatic background kind of find their way often when they're leaving the charismatic movement they end up in our church.

And you would be coming from a theologically reformed framework? Yes definitely yeah so I would be

I mean I'm in large sympathy with the three forms of unity Westminster Confession of Faith, 1689

Baptist Confession of Faith, that whole historic stream. Love John Calvin, love

Martin Luther, love the Puritans obviously and I guess in more contemporary

I think more contemporary authors personally have been really shaped by men like R .C.

Sproul, J .I. Packer, John Piper, Tim Keller, D .A.

Carson, kind of guys in that framework. Great well if anybody wants to look up and find out more information on Redeemer Church there in Michigan, in Niles, Michigan to be precise, go to their website and that is redeemer .ch.

Can you tell us something about approximately when and how in your journey as a

Christian you developed a love for the Puritans? How did you discover them and how did you fall in love with them as many especially reformed

Christians have? Not exclusively reformed, there are even some of our non -Calvinist fundamentalist friends, fundamentalist

Baptists who have fallen in love with the Puritans as well and others, even some charismatics have fallen in love with the

Puritans. But tell us what was specifically involved in your journey? Yeah well the first step for me was the home in which

I was raised. So my dad is a preacher and I grew up with him reading the

Puritans, him reading to us as we were kids, reading things like Charles Spurgeon.

I remember seeing on his shelves lots of Banner of Truth titles, the works of John Flavel and John Owen and Richard Sibbes and so on.

And probably the first of the Puritans that I ever read was John Bunyan, so was introduced to Pilgrim's Progress when

I was really young and then Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, that was pretty early for me and some of Jonathan Edwards writings.

And then as I began to grow as a young adult I was reading guys like John MacArthur and J .I.

Packer and John Piper and of course they were just quoting the Puritans all the time. So it just wasn't long before I started picking up those volumes for myself and I've been reading them ever since, it's been so helpful for me.

So you didn't have to overcome a stereotype that may have blocked you otherwise or prevented you from even touching a work by a

Puritan because it's so tragic that there are many people who speak without knowledge and wisdom and education on the subject and they will merely read what the enemies of Calvinism have written and very often those enemies obviously will vilify the

Puritans and they have been described in all sorts of horrible ways.

There are some elements of truth in the negative history of the Puritans, we don't want to candy coat or cover up anything that's true, but there are grossly exaggerated teachings about the

Puritans and that they were a really dull killjoy kind of party killers, if you will, and even worse, that they may have had a bloodthirsty hatred for Baptists or anyone outside of their own group.

They may have had very strong vociferous disagreements with many of those who were not among them and sometimes it led some among their numbers to do harmful things, but the really evil description that is painted of them is a really slanderous exaggeration, is it not?

Yeah, absolutely. Fortunately for me, that hasn't been my experience that I had a lot to overcome.

I am using the word Puritan, and we do in this book, fairly broadly. I would include John Bunyan, even though John Bunyan was a non -conformist, he was a

Baptist, a separatist. My early introduction, as I mentioned, was Bunyan, but then even when

I started reading more of the actual Puritans, guys who sat in the

Westminster Assembly, what struck me so early on was actually how deeply joyful they were in just the depth of their love for God, their joy in Christ.

One of the very first Puritan books I ever read was by Thomas Brooks. Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices?

Yes, excellent. That wasn't the one I read. I have read that one and I love it, but the one I read, as far as I know, has never been published separately outside of his works in recent days, but it was called

An Ark for All God's Noahs. It was a meditation on a passage from Lamentations, the

Lord is my portion. He just goes through, I don't remember now, probably 25 or 30 different ways in which

God is our portion, and talks about how he's a satisfying portion, and a delightful portion, and the best possible portion.

It just captured my heart. It was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever read about God, and it expanded my appetite to know the

Lord, and that was my introduction to the Puritans when I started actually reading full books for myself.

In fact, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices may have been my introduction to the

Puritans. I'm pretty sure it's a Banner of Truth publication, and it may be published by others as well, since it's public domain now.

Yeah, it's in their Puritan paperback series. Just a fantastic book. I've read parts of that multiple times, and read all the way through it just a year or two ago.

It's just an excellent book. Now, how did you and Dr. Beeke wind up getting together to collaborate on a single book of your own about the

Puritans thriving in grace? Well, I've done a little bit of writing for Reformation Heritage books over the last couple of years, so they published my book,

Watchfulness, and then I've edited several of the books in their Puritan Treasures for Today series.

That's how I first met Dr. Beeke, or at Then a little over a year ago,

I pitched the idea for this short book that was kind of an entry -level introduction to the

Puritans. It was based, in part, on an article that I wrote for Banner of Truth magazine a long time ago, probably 2007 -2008.

I was just taking that outline and thought I could fill that out to a full book. I sent that proposal in, and Dr.

Beeke reviews all the proposals that come through Reformation Heritage books. He liked it and thought that he would enjoy adding to that if I was open to that.

Of course, he's the real Puritan expert. I'm just a pastor who reads the Puritans, and I enjoy the writing, but he's the scholar, and so I jumped at the idea as soon as they suggested that.

I thought, yeah, that'd be great to co -author the book with him and let him have a lot of input on it.

So we worked out a plan, and essentially we each wrote half of the book. We each wrote six chapters.

Well, one of the things that the Puritans are known for, which has led, as I was saying earlier, some folks who started out spreading some of those slanderous lies about the

Puritans, and I have to be very careful the way I speak. I don't want to broad brush, but some of our independent fundamentalist

Baptist friends who are not Reformed or Calvinistic in any way, some of them at one point were spreading the same vicious slanders about the

Puritans that others have and still do, but then some of them thankfully began actually reading them.

I know a number of fundamentalists who, because of the saturation of biblical truth, the biblical -driven writings and lives of the

Puritans, drove many of these folks that I know to do 180 -degree turnaround, and they have come to love and enthusiastically recommend the

Puritans, even though they may disagree on some important theological issues with these folks.

But because of the fact that they are so bibliocentric, or should

I say were, but they still live among us now in their writings, tell us how the scriptures themselves have been a force in fueling spiritual growth.

Well, I mean, the Puritans were preachers, right? By and large, the

Puritan writings we have today are their expositions of Scripture, their sermons.

Occasionally you have a theological treatise, but they were preachers, and they were ministers of the

Word, so the Word of God was for them the source of divine revelation, of special revelation.

It was authoritative. It was inspired, inerrant. I mean, they held a very high view of Scripture, and so almost everything they write, you find that.

There's an anecdote from Spurgeon about John Bunyan, where he said if you prick

Bunyan anywhere, he bleeds Bible, because his blood was biblene, he said.

And that's true of most of the Puritans. You read them, and they're just quoting Scripture, applying

Scripture, interacting with Scripture, and they viewed the scriptures as God's primary means of grace by which we grow in the faith, and I think reading them proves that out to be true.

Yes, and of course, there is no better place for someone that you adopt as a

Christian hero, there's no better place for that hero to be gaining his own wisdom than from the authoritative scriptures, which are inerrant and infallible, and the only infallible rule of faith for the church.

And before I go to any other of the ways, of these 12 ways that the

Puritans fuel spiritual growth, how do you overcome an argument that some have said, especially perhaps folks like Fundamentalist Baptists, why are you wasting your time reading the

Puritans? They are not authors of the divinely inspired, inerrant scriptures, why don't you just stick with the

Bible? How do you overcome an attack like that? Well, I think it's the same response you would make to why we need teaching and preaching in the church.

So most of, I suppose, most of the Fundamentalist preachers that would say that would not say that we don't need preachers, they would agree that God has given the gift of teaching to some people within the church, and the gift of preaching, and that we benefit from the exposition and the application of scripture from gifted men, and that to refuse to benefit from that gift is actually arrogant and proud on our parts.

And I would just extend the argument and say that God has gifted teachers, and pastors, and preachers throughout the history of the church, and that it's to our own impoverishment if we ignore those gifts, and the

Puritans were some of the most gifted of those men in the history of the church. And so they weren't, they were not infallible, nobody's claiming that they were,

I don't agree with everything I read in every Puritan book, but they helped me to understand scripture, and they point me to God, and they point me to Christ, and they've helped me in my spiritual life.

And I think those who take the time to actually read them will find that that's true for them as well. Yes, even

Dr. Joel Beeke, not long ago, probably two years ago, maybe three, at a

Banner of Truth conference that I attended, even he who is known as a great lover of the

Puritans, in fact naming his seminary that he founded, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, even he at the

Banner of Truth conference had at least one session on how we should not imitate the

Puritans. Right. So that goes to show you we, although we,

I don't think there's anything wrong, in fact I know there's nothing wrong and everything right about having a healthy view of developing heroes from the history, and even from the present day, there's a difference between having heroes though and idols.

Absolutely, yeah. But one of the things that the

Puritans have helped those who have read them do is lift our gaze to the greatness and glory of our triune

God, and perhaps the primary words we should be looking at in this next question that I'm asking you, greatness, glory, and triune.

Very often, even though on paper you'll have every truly evangelical church believing in the

Trinity, believing that God is triune, we very often do not treat him or speak of him that way.

Our theology doesn't reflect it, our prayer life doesn't reflect it, our worship doesn't reflect it.

But if you could just give us some insights into this aspect of lifting our gaze to the greatness and glory of our triune

God. Well again, to refer to the Puritans and how they have helped me, one

Puritan who really stands out is John Owen, and I'm assuming that many of your listeners will be familiar with John Owen.

Owen wrote a wonderful book called Communion with the Triune God, and it's essentially a manual on prayer that shows how the believer has distinct communion with each person in the

Trinity, so that we relate to God the Father in a particular way, and we relate to God the

Son in a particular way, and we relate to God the Holy Spirit in a particular way. And I think it's just an amazingly helpful book.

That's one of the most enriching things that I've read, and it has given me a deeper appreciation for the

Trinity, that this is not just some abstract doctrine that we have to agree to on paper, but it's really the heart, the living heart of the

Gospel, is that our God is Father, Son, and Spirit, and the Gospel is that God the

Father has sent his Son to be our substitute, to be our Redeemer, to die for our sins, to rise from the dead, and he has sent his

Spirit into our hearts by whom we cry out, Abba Father. And so the very experience of prayer is the experience of the

Holy Spirit within us on the basis of Christ the

Son outside of us re -establishing communion with God the

Father above us. And there is no Christian life without the

Trinity. There's no salvation without the Trinity. There's no Gospel without the Trinity. So it becomes the most practical of all doctrines when we begin to understand how the doctrine of the

Trinity impacts our prayer life, and faith, and worship, and so on. And the Puritans are wonderful guides often in this.

They don't all equally emphasize the Trinity in the same way that John Owen does, but Owen is particularly good in that regard.

Yes, and you brought up John Bunyan earlier. John Owen demonstrated very wise discernment and humility.

Being a man of great education and esteem, he even let the lowly

Tinker preach from his pulpit, and they became friends and so on.

He was instrumental in getting Pilgrim's Progress published as well, we think. Right, just because he recognized not only the amazing gifts of Bunyan, but the

Biblical truth that he possessed. That's right, yeah. And as far as the

Puritans convicting our consciences of the subtlety and sinfulness of sin, that is one thing that Puritans are known for, but perhaps even outside of Reformed circles, is that they are very, in their writings, very thorough in convicting the hearts of their readers about their sin.

And sometimes even this has been exaggerated as if this is all they talked about and all they were doing was keeping their congregants and their readers gripped with terror non -stop.

But if you read enough of the Puritans, you realize this is not true, because they were also extremely grace -centered.

And so tell us about this way that the Puritans convict our consciences to the subtlety and sinfulness of sin.

Yeah, well, the Puritans' view of sin was an outgrowth of their view of Scripture, which we've already discussed, and their view of God.

So when you have a high view of God, when you see God as infinite and holy and majestic and sovereign, just and righteous, when you see

God in His glorious attributes, it's only then that we begin to see ourselves as we are, that we begin to see sin for what it is.

And so when the Puritans talk about sin, they talk about sin within this context, within this

God -centered worldview, and they see sin first and foremost as an affront to God, as rebellion against God, and as that which disrupts our own relationship with God or fellowship with God.

And so they very skillfully apply the Word of God to the conscience of the believer, to help the believer see the sinfulness of sin.

And so this is pretty common in the Puritans. You'll find this even in their titles.

Ralph Vinning wrote the book, The Sinfulness of Sin, or I think it was

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Evil of Evils. And here's actually a quote from Vinning.

He says that God is the cheapest of goods, and sin is the cheapest of evils.

As no good can be compared with God for goodness, so no evil can be compared with sin for evil.

That's the way they thought. And so they really do just plumb the depths of the human conscience in showing us the true nature of sin, the guilt of sin, the corruption and pollution of sin, the power of sin.

But they're doing that like good physicians. They were soul physicians, physicians of the soul.

And as a good physician during diagnosis wants to be as honest as possible with the problem and diagnosing exactly what's going on.

What is the degree of this cancer? What is the extent of this disease?

You know, what needs to happen in order to get a clear diagnosis? The Puritans do that with sin in order to then apply the healing balm of the gospel to our hearts.

So it was never an end in and of itself. It's not that they want us to feel guilty for the sake of feeling guilty, but they want us to see our sinful conditions so that we will embrace

God's grace and God's mercy given to us in Christ. Amen.

And we have to go to our first station break. If you'd like to join us once again with a question of your own, our email address is chrizarnsen at gmail .com.

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. As always, please give us your first name, at least your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA. Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Perhaps you disagree with your pastor or your entire congregation for the most part over something that we are addressing today, and you don't want to draw attention to yourself.

You might even be a pastor, and you disagree with your fellow elders or your denomination over a point of theology, doctrine, teaching, and practice that we are going to be speaking of.

It's very understandable that you would want to remain anonymous, but please, if it's not a personal and private matter, just a general question, please give us at least your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA. Don't go away. We're going to be right back with Brian Hedges after this message. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.

If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know I have a great love for getting Bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.

Besides that, they feel so good. I'm so delighted I discovered Post Tenebrous Lux Bible rebinding.

No radio ad will be long enough to sing their praises sufficiently, but I'll give it a shot. Jeffrey Rice of Post Tenebrous Lux is a remarkably gifted craftsman and artisan.

All his work is done by hand from the cutting to the pleating of corners to the perimeter stitching.

Jeffrey uses the finest in buttery soft imported leathers in a wide variety of gorgeous colors like the turquoise goat skin tanned in Italy used for my

Nestle All in 28th edition with a navy blue goat skin inside liner and the electric blue goat skin from a

French tannery used to rebind a Reformation study Bible I used as a gift. The silver gilding he added on the page edges has a stunning mirror finish resembling highly polished chrome.

Jeffrey will customize your rebinding to your specifications and even emboss your logo into the leather making whatever he rebinds a one -of -a -kind work of art.

For more details on Post Tenebrous Lux Bible rebinding, go to ptlbiblerebinding .com.

That's ptlbiblerebinding .com. When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

NASB. I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President and Professor of Systematic and Homiletical Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylors, South Carolina, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Chuck White of the

First Trinity Lutheran Church in Tonawanda, New York, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Anthony Mathenia of Christ Church in Radford, Virginia, and the NASB is my

Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Justin Miller of Damascus Road Christian Church in Gardenville, Nevada, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Bruce Bennett of Word of Truth Church in Farmingville, Long Island, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Rodney Brown of Metro Bible Church in South Lake, Texas, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jim Harrison of Red Mills Baptist Church in Mayapac Falls, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Trumpet's Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Trumpet's Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com. That's nasbible .com to place your order.

Welcome back. This is Chris Arnzen. If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the program is

Brian G. Hedges, lead pastor of Redeemer Church in Niles, Michigan, and author of several books, including

The Story of His Glory, Active Spirituality, Watchfulness, Recovering a

Lost Spiritual Discipline, and the book we are addressing today, Thriving Grace, Twelve Ways the

Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth, which was co -authored by Dr.

Joel Beakey, and our email address if you have questions is chrisarnzen at gmail .com,

chrisarnzen at gmail .com, and as always, give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA. Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

And before I go to a listener question, I wanted you to, it's kind of off topic, but we just had recently a tribute to the late

Ravi Zacharias, a man greatly beloved in the body of Christ by a very broad spectrum of professing

Christians, and I had two people who knew him very well personally, and also

I played an encore presentation of an interview

I had with Ravi some years ago, and I was just hoping that you could just share a little bit about how

Ravi Zacharias touched and blessed your life. Yeah, thank you.

When I was 25 years old, I was preparing for the ministry leading up to my ordination, and for my 25th birthday, my wife gave me one of the most wonderful gifts

I've ever received. She wrote to a number of pastors and preachers and godly men that I respected, and among them was

Ravi Zacharias, and she asked if they would write me a personal letter with advice as I was leading in the ministry, and Ravi sent me a personal letter with his advice, and essentially he just highlighted the importance of replenishment and taking care of my soul after the output of preaching, and almost, well,

I guess 21 years later, I'm 46 now, so 21 years later, that advice is more important than it's ever been.

I didn't quite understand how important that was at 25, but when he passed away a couple weeks ago,

I dug that letter out, and I was encouraged to read it again, and I've enjoyed the last couple weeks listening to some of his messages again.

Well, praise God, and if anyone wants to look up the tribute that I aired in honor of Ravi Zacharias, you can go to the archive at irontreppanzionradio .com,

and go to the past shows podcast section, click on that, and if you type in RAV as in Victory I, that will surely come up among probably my original interview with him, but I hope you enjoy that.

We have a listener from Lisbon, Iowa.

His name is Jake, and Jake says, how do you think the

Puritans would have responded to the state's closing church services for an extended period of time due to the supposed health concerns?

Well, that's a great question. I don't know. I'm not sure how they would respond to that.

The Puritans lived in an age where they just lived with the plague all the time.

The plague would visit Europe and London sometimes every year, and so they were not as fearful of suffering and death as we are.

I think they were more accustomed to it. I think it was more common in the 17th century with all the centuries that went before in terms of where they were with medical advancement and just the brutal conditions of life in the pre -modern world.

It's pretty different, I think, the way we live today. So I'm not sure. I don't know quite how to answer that question.

I hadn't even really thought about that question before it was asked, so I wish I could be more helpful. What do you think,

Chris? That's hard for me to answer. I would never call myself an expert on the

Puritans, and it's also a lot of guesswork that needs to be done when you go back in time and try to figure out what a person from centuries ago, even a faithful Christian, may have done what they may have done with something involving something that just recently happened in our generation.

Of course, I believe that the Puritans, as many of my heroes from centuries past, if it was a very serious plague or pandemic where, you know, we're talking about things like on the level of the

Black Plague and so on, where there were countless lives perishing all around your average

Christian in certain areas of the world, I would have hoped to think that they would have no problem with a temporary withdrawal from public gathering and doing things that the medical wisdom of their day thought was appropriate and best.

Martin Luther even wrote of such things in the 16th century with the plagues that he was faced with, but I obviously can't be certain with that.

I guess one of the things would be also in regard to laws that are developed by secular authorities, and the

Bible commands us to obey the secular authorities, but there is a limit when we have to say enough is enough, because we're trying to do our best to obey

God above men, and we're supposed to be fearing God more than men. Well, the

Puritans in that regard, I mean, they are wonderful examples. After the act of uniformity in 1662,

I believe it was, 2 ,000 non -conformist ministers were kicked out of the pulpits. So they essentially lost their living, they lost their churches, and many of those pastors continued to minister in secret.

So sometimes there's even stories of Puritans who would meet with a small band of congregants, you know, in the middle of the forest in the middle of the night so that they could worship according to their conscience.

So in those kinds of settings, I think they do have something to teach us. The other thing that comes to mind in regards to the pandemic is that the book

I referenced here a few minutes ago, Ralph Venning's book, The Sinfulness of Sin, was originally entitled

The Plague of Plagues because it was released shortly after one of these great plagues in London.

So I do think one of the things that Puritans would do, because they did this, is when people were, you know, suffering from plague and physical disease and so on and so alarmed by that, is they would try to lift our eyes to greater eternal realities and say, yes, you know, the plague is bad, but the plague of sin is worse.

Physical sickness can cause physical death, but the sickness of sin can lead to eternal death.

And David encourages them to examine our own hearts and souls and to flee to Christ for grace and for forgiveness.

Great. Well, by the way, Jake, you have won a free copy of the book we are addressing.

So please give us your complete address in Lisbon, Iowa, and we will send you a copy of Thriving in Grace, 12

Ways the Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth by Brian G. Hedges and Dr.

Joel Beakey. And in fact, we will have Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service ship that out to you.

They ship out all of our winners, the books and Bibles and other things they win by sending in questions to our guests.

And you have another blessing, Jake, because since you're a first -time questioner, you're also going to receive a free

New American Standard Bible, which we send out to all first -time questioners during the program.

And that is compliments of the publishers of the NASB. And it will also be shipped out by our friends at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, CVBBS .com.

But we want to thank Reformation Heritage Books for providing us with these copies of Thriving in Grace.

So thank you very much, Jake. We hope to hear from you many more times in the future.

One of the 12 ways that Puritans fuel spiritual growth, according to you and Dr.

Beakey, is that the

Puritans open our eyes to the beauty and loveliness of Christ. And there you have,

I'm sure, a myth buster, going back to what I originally addressed in the very beginning of the show, this horrible, horrific, solely terrifying, grim, pessimistic and frightening group of people that the

Puritans allegedly were, according to many who have never read them thoroughly enough to discover the truth.

But this, obviously, is a refuge to run to when we are faced with the horror of our own sin, the beauty and loveliness of Christ, if you could continue.

The Puritans just loved Jesus Christ and wrote about Jesus Christ incessantly.

Let me quote one of the Puritans. This is from Thomas Adams, 1583 to 1652.

Thomas Adams said, Christ is the sole paragon of our joy, the fountain of life, the foundation of all blessedness.

Christ is the sum of the whole Bible, prophesied, typified, prefigured, exhibited, demonstrated, to be found in every leaf, almost in every line, the scriptures being but, as it were, the swaddling bands of the child

Jesus. That quote is not an exception. That's how the

Puritans talked. If you read John Flavel, if you read Isaac Ambrose, if you read John Owen, Thomas Watson, the

Puritans spoke about Jesus in these kinds of terms. They were as Christ -centered as perhaps any generation of Christians, of believers in the history of the church.

Often they wrote entire treatises on aspects of Christ's person or Christ's work.

I think as believers, we grow in proportion to our faith in Christ, our love for Christ, our devotion to Christ.

The Puritans can really help us understand the personal work of Christ more and also fan into flame this heart of love and of faith in Christ.

We have Harrison in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, who wants to know, why is it and how is it that today, in our day and age, when we have at our fingertips, due to the miracle of the internet, access to Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic, and how we can derive and glean from some of the greatest minds that have ever lived within Christendom, and yet today, rarely does the church produce an example of a pastor or a scholar and theologian on the level of the

Puritans, when they had so many more hurdles to overcome than we do now?

Yeah, that's another wonderful question. So I would say that there are great examples of pastor theologians today and great scholars who are orthodox in their theology and hold to the gospel.

My co -author for this book, Dr. Joel Beakey, would be a great example. Oh, yes.

The kinds of curriculum, if you look at the catalog for Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and look at the kinds of students they're putting out, they are training men in this way.

But I do think the Puritans live in a different age where even just basic education was very different.

So most of the Puritan authors were trained classically. They were learning

Latin and Greek in what we would think of now as their junior high and high school education.

Most people today don't get that kind of education and have to pursue it very deliberately, if they do at all.

That may be one reason. The other is just to remember that there were lots of people in the 17th century and probably even lots of pastors we've never heard of and never will.

The books that lasted are the best books, the books by the Puritans. And three centuries from now, there will be a handful of books from the 20th century that last, and they will be by some of the best minds and the best scholars and the most godly men and women, and that God preserves those books and they continue to live on.

Well, thank you very much, Harrison. You've also won a free copy of Thriving in Grace, so make sure we have your full mailing address in Mechanicsburg.

Going back to the 12 ways that we are discussing in which the

Puritans fuel spiritual growth, if you could tell us more about how the

Puritans liberate our hearts with the freedom and power of grace. Yeah, the

Puritans write a lot about grace, and they emphasize both of those things, the freedom of grace and the power of grace.

So the freedom of grace, in that the Puritans certainly defended the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

For the most part, the Puritans were, you know, they were heirs to the

Reformation, and so the reformed doctrine of justification that we get from Luther and then

Calvin is essentially what the Puritans taught as well. There are occasional exceptions to that, and one would be

Richard Baxter, who is, he is a Puritan who's fairly well known today because of his book,

The Reformed Pastor, which is a great book. Baxter and his doctrine of justification, I think, is less helpful.

But when you read Puritans such as Robert Trail or John Owen or Thomas Watson on these, on the issue of justification, they are emphasizing the freedom and the grace of God in justification.

The justification is by faith alone, through the instrumentality of faith alone, and then on the basis of the meritorious work of Christ, Christ's righteousness and obedience, which is credited to us.

They also emphasize the freedom of God's grace in terms of the doctrines of grace, and I don't necessarily emphasize that as much in this book, but certainly if you start digging into the

Puritans on the doctrines of election or predestination, you will find a hearty defense of the doctrines of grace, and they're wonderful to read in that regard.

Again, other than from Richard Baxter, whose Reformed Pastor is one of the most highly recommended and read books by the greatest

Reformed minds, but he sadly was not an example of a thoroughly Reformed, theologically

Reformed... Right. Yeah, that's right. So Baxter, I think, is less helpful the closer you get to his theology.

So a lot of his practical books can be helpful. I honestly haven't read

Baxter as much as some of the others. I've read the Reformed Pastor, and I've read in Baxter's Christian Directory, which is a large counseling manual, but it was sometimes easy to forget this, that the

Puritans were not this monolithic group where they were all exactly the same.

So there were intramural debates, and there were different sides of theological debates even in the 17th century, and so you find that John Owen and Richard Baxter are pretty different, and they were sparring with one another, you know, in their books, and I find

Owen much more helpful when it comes to theology. But no less than the freedom of grace, the

Puritans also emphasize the power of God's grace. So I love the words of the

Old Hymn, he breaks the power of cancelled sin. He sets the prisoner free, a great Wesley hymn, and the

Puritans believe that, and they taught that, and they emphasize that, and so just as much as they emphasize the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone, so they emphasize the doctrine of sanctification, and how all those who are justified will also be sanctified.

They were by no means antinomians. They were not giving people license to sin. They were not abusing

God's grace. They believed that if God's grace touched us, it would change us, and that just as we are justified by God's grace, we're also regenerated, and we're made new creatures, new creation, and we're changed and transformed by His grace.

Well, we have to go over a midway break right now. It's a longer than normal break on the show, because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1

FM in Lake City, Florida, who airs this program twice a day in a pre -recorded format in morning drive, and in the evening, they require of us a longer break in the middle of the show, because they have to air public service announcements and other things that localize

Iron Trip and Zion Radio to Lake City, Florida, and so they air those announcements while we air our globally heard commercials.

So therefore, I'm asking you to use this time wisely. Please write down as much of the information provided by our advertisers as possible, so that you can more easily and frequently patronize our advertisers, which will enable us to remain on the air.

We could not exist without the financial support of our advertisers, so please try to support them as much as possible, but also use this time to send in questions to our guest today,

Brian G. Hedges on The Puritans, and our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

chrisarnson at gmail .com. Don't go away. We're going to be right back after these messages from our sponsors.

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio depends upon the financial support of fine Christian organizations to remain on the air, like the

Historical Bible Society. The Historical Bible Society maintains a collection of Christian books, manuscripts, and Bibles of historical significance spanning nearly a thousand years.

The mission of HBS is the preservation and public display of ancient scripture, dissemination of scripture, to provide tools equipping believers and Christian apologetics with evidence for the

Bible's reliability, and to introduce Reformation literature and Christian art to a broader audience.

Since 2004, HBS has toured schools and churches throughout the Northeast United States, reaching thousands of believers and non -believers alike who are hungry for knowledge of the

Bible. HBS's founder, Daniel P. Buttafuoco, attorney at law, is committed to sharing this collection, along with an inspirational historical message that will captivate you and your church.

Come journey through their website, historicalbiblesociety .org. The collection includes a complete 11th century

Bible, an actual page of the Gutenberg Bible from 1455, the first book ever printed, the

Geneva Bible, the 1611 King James Bible, and much, much more. Visit historicalbiblesociety .org

today. Thank you, Daniel P. Buttafuoco, attorney at law, for your faithful support of Iron Sharpens Radio.

Iron Sharpens Iron.

Welcome to Iron Sharpens Radio. For a clear, detailed, professional estimate, call this trustworthy team of problem solvers who provide superior results that stand the test of time.

Call Solid Rock Remodeling at 717 -697 -1981, 717 -697 -1981, or visit

SolidRockRemodeling .com. That's SolidRockRemodeling .com.

Solid Rock Remodeling. Bringing new life to your home. Solid Rock Remodeling.

No credit card required. Visit getworldnow .com today.

Also check out World News Group's podcast, The World and Everything in It, at wng .org

forward slash podcast. That's W for world, N for news,

G for group .org forward slash podcast. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries and the

Dividing Line webcast here. Although God has brought me all over the globe for many years to teach, preach, and debate at numerous venues, some of my very fondest memories are from those precious times of fellowship with Pastor Rich Jensen and the

Brethren at Hope Reformed Baptist Church, now located at their new, beautiful facilities in Corham, Long Island, New York.

I've had the privilege of opening God's Word from their pulpit on many occasions, have led youth retreats for them, and have always been thrilled to see their members filling many seats at my

New York debates. I cannot hesitate to highly recommend Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island to anyone who wants to be accurately taught, discipled, and edified by the

Holy Scriptures, and to be surrounded by truly loving and caring brothers and sisters in Christ.

I also want to congratulate Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Corham for their recent appointment of Pastor Rich Jensen's co -elder,

Pastor Christopher McDowell. For more information on Hope Reformed Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

That's hopereformedli .net, or call 631 -696 -5711.

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island that you heard about them from James White on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

NASB. I'm Author Gary DeMar, President of American Vision, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Dan LeBennick of West Hills Baptist Church in Huntington Station, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Justin Peters of Justin Peters Ministries, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Reverend Buzz Taylor, author of God's Lawson, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Dr. William Webster, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Battleground, Washington, founder of the ministry

Christian Resources, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Ryan Golan of Central Islip Community Church in Central Islip, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Brandon Smith of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Jackson, Georgia, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com, that's nasbible .com to place your order.

Every day at thousands of community centers, high schools, middle schools, juvenile institutions, coffee shops, and local hangouts,

Long Island Youth for Christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need Jesus. We are rural and urban, and we are always about the message of Jesus.

Our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on Long Island, New York, by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following Christ.

Long Island Youth for Christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959. We have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world.

Help honor our history by becoming a part of our future. Volunteer, donate, pray, or all of the above.

For details, call Long Island Youth for Christ at 631 -385 -8333, that's 631 -385 -8333, or visit liyfc .org,

that's liyfc .org. We are excited to announce another new member of the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio advertising family, Banu Gadi, owner of three

New York pharmacies, Lee's Drugs of Floral Park, Long Beach Chemists, and Prescription Center of Long Island in Hempstead.

Banu Gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic.

Please contact Dr. Gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media.

To find the pharmacy nearest you, call 516 -354 -2000, that's 516 -354 -2000, or order online at leesdrugsrx .com,

that's leesdrugsrx .com. Don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program.

Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Banu Gadi. I'm a pharmacist in New York, which is the epicenter of the latest crisis the world is going through.

In Psalm 139 verse 14, the psalmist offers praise to the Lord like this,

I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well.

He saw God's goodness and mercy, kindness, and the beauty in what

God has designed, and he has erupted into praise. In any crisis or problem, brothers and sisters, our only fallback position is to trust

God's design, and once we do, there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him.

When the whole world is searching for a solution, God in his infinite mercy has given us what we need to address this illness, which can be very serious.

Such is the beauty of his design. Knowing that design, how can we not erupt in praise to our great

God like the psalmist did? May God bless you and give all of us wisdom to see greater things in his design.

Thank you. Hi, this is

John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona, taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnson and the

Iron Sharpens Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions, while always defending the key doctrines of the

Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast, knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.

I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise, and yet God has raised

Chris up for just such a time, and knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances.

I'm pleased to do so, and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting

Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?

I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com,

where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com. Was your business shut down during the

COVID -19 pandemic, depriving you of earning any money, causing you to default on your rent as you try to survive without income?

Maybe you've had to close your doors for good. The good news, you thought, was that you purchased business interruption insurance as a part of your business liability policy with a major insurance company who told you they are a good neighbor, or that you would be in good hands.

You filed a claim only to be told that it was denied due to the pandemic exclusion clause.

The pandemic exclusion? Since 2006, most insurance companies added this clause to enable them to deny your income loss claims in the event of a worldwide pandemic.

Do not give up. No matter what state you live in, call Buttafuoco &

Associates now at 1 -800 -669 -4878.

Buttafuoco & Associates is a part of a large multi -district litigation, and they are working with lead counsel to bring what they believe will be a successful lawsuit for these claims.

It is the best way for you to proceed. There's absolutely no risk to you. You do not have to pay them out of pocket, and there is no fee unless you recover on your claim.

You need to call 1 -800 -669 -4878 right now.

Trust the law firm where the attorneys at one of the largest business firms on Long Island, New York, are sending their own clients for representation during this lawsuit.

Buttafuoco & Associates, here to help business owners rebuild their lives in the wake of the pandemic.

Call 1 -800 -669 -4878. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,

Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted.

He will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

You need to read. Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the

Prince of Preachers to heart. The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered,

Christ -exalting books for all ages. We invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com.

That's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past to present you can unearth from Solid Ground.

Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And don't forget, folks, for all your gift -giving needs, please first go to solid -ground -books .com,

solid -ground -books .com, whether it be for Father's Day gifts, graduation gifts, back -to -school gifts, birthdays, anniversaries, bereavement gifts, whether they are gifts for Christians or for non -Christians.

Remember, although you will edify and bless the life of any Christian who receives a book from solid -ground -books .com,

you will also, perhaps, God -willing, lead a lost person to Christ through the

Gospel that's contained so vividly and beautifully in the books that Solid Ground Christian Books brings back into print and also prints for the first time by contemporary authors.

So, for the finest in Christian literature, please always go to solid -ground -books .com.

And remember that they are a primary sponsor of this program. Make sure you tell them that you heard about Solid Ground Christian Books from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

And before we return to our guest today, Brian G. Hedges, and our topic, Thriving Grace, 12

Ways the Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth, I just have a couple of important announcements to make.

First of all, folks, if you love this program and you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves, you love sharing the free downloadable

MP3s with your family, friends, and loved ones, you love hearing interviews with guests on topics that very often are never heard anywhere else, you love winning free

Bibles and free books on this program by submitting questions to our guests, especially when we're interviewing authors, well, please, if you love the show, go to ironsharpensironradio .com,

click Support, then click Click to Donate Now. There are options for giving one time, and there are also options that you will see on how to adjust your form when you click on that.

You can even arrange for monthly giving automatically. But however you want to give, we would appreciate whatever you can afford, because we are in urgent need of your donations.

We lost two of our largest financial supporters due to the hysteria involved with the coronavirus pandemic, and these two donors and supporters had their businesses hit so hard that they had to take a hiatus on giving, so hopefully they will return as normal in the future as regular supporters of the show.

But until then, can you please help us regain that which was lost? And I thank all of you who are already doing that.

Oh, I just cannot thank each and every one of you enough for the blessing that you have been to me, and for the blessing that you have been to this program, and helping it remain on the air.

So don't ever think that I have ever forgotten those who are proving themselves to be extremely generous.

But you can also mail in a check, if you prefer, to the address that appears on your screen at ironsharpensironradio .com

when you click Support, and you can make out the checks to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and send them in via snail mail, if that's what you prefer.

Also, you can advertise with us, as long as whatever it is you're promoting does not completely militate against what we are about here.

You don't have to agree with me identically, but you have to be promoting something that's at least compatible with what we believe at Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

So send me, in that case, send me an email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com and advertise in the subject line.

Also, folks, remember, please don't ever siphon money away from your regular giving to your local church, where you are a member, in order to give to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Please don't do that, especially during this time, even though it's winding down, but the coronavirus pandemic quarantines have really hurt churches significantly.

Some have even had to close their doors permanently, but many of the churches out there, especially those that are biblically faithful, which tend to be smaller in size than megachurches, they have been hit real hard.

So don't siphon money away from your regular giving that you're accustomed to, to your local church, in order to give to us, and never put your family in financial jeopardy by giving to us.

Those two things are commands of God. Providing for my radio show is not, obviously, a command of God, but if you're financially blessed above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands, you have extra money, money that you've been saving because you haven't been at least going to your favorite sporting events, you haven't been going to concerts, you haven't been going out fine dining, you haven't been going to the movies or theatrical performances, you haven't been going to Bible conferences.

There's so many things that absorb a lot of our money when it comes to recreation and even edification, like a

Bible conference, that the coronavirus pandemic prevented all of us from enjoying.

So if you've saved a lot of money from your inability to enjoy those things that you normally do, please use some of that money to help us keep on the air, help us try to bounce back from the money that we lost from the loss of those two advertisers, and please remember to go to www .ironsharpenzionradio

.com, click support, then click click to donate now. Also folks, if you're not a member of a local

Bible -believing church, you're having a hard time finding a church near you that is truly doctrinally sound and sound in practice, well,

I have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the planet earth, and I have already helped many people find churches in all parts of the world, including not only churches that they have joined and become, where they've become members, but also when they're vacationing and visiting a church or needing a church to recommend to loved ones who don't know of a church that's faithful near them.

Well, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put I need a church in the subject line, and God willing,

I'll be able to help you find a church, because as I said, I have lists all over the world. That's also the email address where you can send in a question to our guest today,

Brian G. Hedges, on his book that he has co -authored with Dr. Joel Beeky, Thriving Grace, 12

Ways the Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth. That's chrisarnson at gmail .com,

chrisarnson at gmail .com, and we have a listener in Dalton, Georgia, named

Andrew, and Andrew says,

Hey Brothers Chris and Brian, I was and am greatly benefited by your book on watchfulness, so thank you for your ministry.

My question is, it is my understanding that the Puritans banned the celebration of Easter at one point because they saw it as a government -mandated secular holiday.

So, what would wisdom dictate as to when we should celebrate these types of holidays, whether on the church's historic date of it, or otherwise on a different date?

What was the Puritans' chief objection here? That's Andrew from Dalton, Georgia, and of course, some churches, in following the example of the

Puritans, don't celebrate some of those holidays at all, like Christmas and Easter, but if you could.

Well, first of all, just thank you, Andrew, for your encouragement about the book

Watchfulness. I'm grateful for that. I'm not actually the scholar on the

Puritans. My co -author, Joel Beeky, is, and I wish he was on the program because he would probably be able to answer that question in much more detail than I can.

The Puritans, to my knowledge, whatever reaction they had to those kinds of holidays was probably a reaction to the emphasis on those holidays, the church calendar, the

Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Church. And to some degree,

I think, for the Puritans, it was a matter of just the principle of a free conscience in worship.

They didn't want to be required to do something that God's Word did not clearly command, and so that was at least part of their reaction.

I personally, on issues such as Christmas or Easter, don't follow the Puritans in that regard.

I think I've preached on the resurrection of Jesus every Easter Sunday for the last probably 17 years, 18 years, but I know that within Reformed churches, our stream, that there are different perspectives on that.

Some that are closer to the Puritans on that issue, but I can't give detail as to what all they thought.

There's a lot of Puritans I haven't read, and it's not an issue we covered in this book. Yes, and I think that I know folks on both sides of that issue, or those issues,

I should say, and I think that we have to all be careful that we do not harshly judge our brethren who disagree with us either on participating in those holidays or by refraining from them.

That's right. Romans 14, I think, would come into play here. You know, this is one of those matters that is indifferent, a diaphora, and we have freedom.

We have freedom in our own conscience, and we stand before the Lord. We'll stand before His judgment seat, but we're not to judge one another.

Andrew, please make sure you get us your full mailing address in Dalton, Georgia, because you have also won a free copy of the book we are addressing by Brian Hedges and Joel Beeky, Thriving Grace.

So please get us that address as soon as possible so that CVBBS .com,

Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, can ship that out to you. And once again, we thank our friends at Reformation Heritage Books for their generosity in providing us with copies of this book.

We also have a question from Grady, a very faithful and loyal listener and financial supporter of this program.

Grady in Asheboro, North Carolina. And Grady says, Greetings, Brothers Chris and Brian.

I find it troublesome when I find a dig deeper in my biblical studies and make me think through what

I am reading. They were deep thinkers, seemed to fear

God more and made an impact on their families and congregants. Most of today's contemporary writers seem to be shallow unless they gather their wealth of knowledge from the

Puritans. Do you agree? Well, I certainly agree that the

Puritans do all of the things this brother says. They were deep thinkers and they do nourish us and help us in our spiritual lives.

And that's why we wrote this book, because we want to see more people reading the Puritans than do.

I think there are a number of great authors in the 20th and 21st century, but I do tend to agree that they usually are drawing from some of these old wells.

So, you know, you read a J .R. Packer or a Jerry Bridges or a John Piper or John MacArthur, they're quoting the

Puritans pretty often. Well, thank you,

Grady. And make sure you get us that address so you can also receive a free copy of the book we are addressing by Brian G.

Hedges and Dr. Joel Beeky, Thriving Grace. You've won a copy as well.

We have CJ from Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York. And CJ wants to know, can you give us some pastoral advice on how we should determine whether our extra -biblical reading of the greats like the

Puritans and the Reformers and even contemporary giants of the faith that are biblically faithful, but it can eclipse our own study of Scripture?

Can you give us some guidelines and some helpful hints on how to balance our own reading and meditation and study?

Well, I think as a general rule of thumb, we should be reading Scripture daily. We should be following the example of the psalmist, someone meditating on the law of the

Lord day and night. Our delight should be in the law of the Lord. We should always, of course, view

Scripture as authoritative and anything else that we read is not authoritative.

It may be helpful, it may be edifying, but it's not our source of authority. So if someone is reading more of the

Puritans and reading the Puritans more consistently than they're reading the Bible itself, then yeah, those books are probably eclipsing

Scripture. So I think you begin with those personal devotional habits of reading

Scripture regularly, consistently. I really like to encourage people to read through the

Bible every year, so they're reading systematically, reading regularly. I've tried to follow the

Robert Murray McShane plan that takes me through the Old Testament once, the New Testament psalms twice, and I find that helpful.

So maybe start there, and then as you read other books, read them judiciously, pick good ones, and read things that are edifying, that help you with your prayer life, that help you with holiness, that help you understand

Scripture better. But don't feel the obligation to read any particular Puritan book or to even read the

Puritans. You're not commanded to read the Puritans, but certainly we're under obligation to read and meditate on God's Word.

Well, if you could tell us something about how the Puritans engage our wills in the practice and in the practical pursuit of holiness.

Yeah, you know, there's so much that could be said about the Puritans on holiness, because virtually everything they wrote was geared towards holiness.

I just want to highlight two things. So the first thing is how the

Puritans help us understand holiness in a relationship to union with Christ.

They viewed union with Christ as the source of our sanctification, the source of our holiness, so that it's impossible for us to be holy apart from abiding in Christ, being united to Christ by faith.

And one of the great examples of this is Walter Marshall, who wrote a book called

The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification. It's the book that Professor John Murray of Westminster Seminary thought was the best book on sanctification ever written.

And there's an interesting story about Marshall that he actually was struggling, even as a pastor, he was struggling with sin.

He didn't feel like he was growing in godliness and holiness. He had a very troubled conscience, and he was trying to apply things he was reading.

He was even reading guys like Richard Baxter, we talked about a little while ago, he's not finding it helpful. And he finally went to an older Puritan minister named

Thomas Goodwin, and he just confessed all of his sins, trying to get some help. And he got through his list of sins, and Thomas Goodwin looked at him and said, you have left off the worst sin of all, the sin of unbelief.

And then Goodwin began to point him to Jesus Christ and the importance of faith in Jesus Christ. And that was a turning point in Walter Marshall's life, where he really began to focus on Christ and on what

Christ has done and in faith, his own faith in Jesus Christ. And then that led to a series of sermons that was published posthumously as this book,

The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification. And it's a wonderful book where he points us to Christ and to trust in Christ.

And our focus is not that we're constantly looking, you know, watching our feet, how are we walking, but our eyes are looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

But the Puritans are also very helpful on the practical aspects of holiness, and in particular on the means of grace and how things like spiritual disciplines can help us with holiness.

They didn't call it spiritual disciplines like we do today, but they wrote a lot about those things, such as prayer and meditation and corporate worship and even watchfulness.

So the book I wrote, Watchfulness, is largely based on Puritan writings, and they included that as a spiritual discipline that would help with holiness.

And I would commend in particular a book by Richard Rogers called Holy Helps for a

Godly Life, been recently republished by Reformation Heritage Books. And it was actually the first Protestant manual on spiritual disciplines that was ever written.

It was written in the very early 1600s and written kind of as a reaction to the writings of the

Jesuits and the Roman Catholic writings on spiritual disciplines. And it's interesting that today spiritual disciplines are pretty popular in Christian publishing, but so much of the time authors are pulling from the mystics and Roman Catholic sources and the contemplative movement and so on, and they're really ignoring this rich vein of treasure that you find in the

Puritans and in the Reformed writings. And Richard Rogers is a great place to go, and it'll help on the practical level of how to pursue godliness.

Great. Let's see here, we have RJ in White Plains, New York.

RJ says, I heard once from a Catholic friend who, believe it or not, loved the

Puritans, that Puritan homes very commonly would have a human skull on their mantles in order to remind them about their own mortality.

Is this myth or truth? I don't know. I've not heard that before, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

And of course, you'll have a lot of explanation to do when your friends come over for time of fellowship at your house and you have a skull there on the mantel.

In our day and age, it may have more unnecessary negative baggage attached to it.

People will think that you're involved in some kind of satanic cult or something if you have that. Certainly wouldn't be appropriate for a

Christmas tree, but then again, the Puritans didn't think Christmas trees were appropriate in any way, shape, or form.

Right. Oh, RJ, you have won a free copy of the book by Brian Hedges and Joel Beeky, Thriving Grace, 12

Ways the Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth. Make sure we have your full mailing address in White Plains, New York.

We have Johnny from Queens, New York. John Owen and other

Puritans often direct us to modify the deeds... Let's see.

I don't know if this is a typo. Puritans often direct us to mortify the deeds.

And I think this number three is supposed to be of the body. I don't know where the three came from.

I think Johnny in Queens, New York, when he realized we were giving books away, very hastily typed this.

So let me start again. John Owen and other Puritans often direct us to mortify the deeds of the body as a means to holiness.

What practical steps would you have us engage in to kill besetting sin on a daily basis?

That's a great question. Yes. Yes, John Owen wrote the

Puritan book on this, The Mortification of Sin and Believers, and famously said, Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.

It's a wonderful book. The most important things that Owen says in that book are, first, that you can't mortify sin on your own.

You can only do it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Of course, that's what Paul says in Romans 8 .13.

If you, by the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, you will live. So dependence on the

Holy Spirit is crucial. Owen also says that it's only through faith in Christ that we can mortify our sins.

And so he tells us that we have to fix our faith on Jesus Christ. We have to look to Christ in His fullness.

We look to Him for His strength. We look to Him for His power, and we trust in Him. That's essential.

Without faith in Christ, without the Holy Spirit, we maybe can do some behavior modification, but we can't really deal with the root of sin in our hearts.

We can't deal with the motivations, and we won't really effectively mortify sin.

But with those two things in place, there are practical things we can do. Maybe just to highlight one or two, we make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its desires,

Romans 13 .14. That practically means that there are some things that you shouldn't do if it's going to lead you into temptation.

Maybe there are websites you shouldn't go to, or TV shows you shouldn't watch, or places you shouldn't go that you shouldn't frequent if they will lead you into temptation or lead you into sin.

I think we even should think about things like social media. There's so much discontentment and so much negativity that happens in social media.

There are good uses of social media, but sometimes I think it just brings out the worst in people.

If you're struggling with envy or discontent, maybe you need to refrain from Facebook or Twitter.

Social media bringing out the worst in people? I've never even heard of the concept. Obviously, I'm joking.

Yes, I have learned, maybe not perfectly, but I don't typically these days, as I used to, get involved in these wars and fights and disputes on Facebook and other places that were becoming a vacuum cleaner of my time.

Well, Johnny, thanks for that excellent question, and I believe you've won the last copy of the book that we're giving away,

Thriving Grace, so make sure that we have your full mailing address in Queens, New York, and Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, cvbbs .com

will ship this book out to you. We're actually still waiting for the books to arrive from Reformation Heritage Books, but they should be arriving at any day now, because they've already been shipped a couple of days ago.

But be patient, and you should be getting them soon. We are now going to our final break, and therefore, if you would like to ask a question of your own, send it in now.

Sorry, there's no more books to offer you, but first -time questioners always win free

New American Standard Bibles. Always remember that. But our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com,

chrisarnson at gmail .com. As always, give us your first name, your city and state of residence, your country of residence, if you live outside the

USA. Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Don't go away.

We'll be right back after these messages with more from Brian G. Hedges. Remarkably gifted craftsman and artisan, all his work is done by hand, from the cutting to the pleating of corners to the perimeter stitching.

Jeffrey uses the finest and buttery soft imported leathers in a wide variety of gorgeous colors, like the turquoise goat skin tanned in Italy used for my

Nestle All in 28th edition, with a navy blue goat skin inside liner, and the electric blue goat skin from a

French tannery used to rebind a Reformation study Bible I used as a gift. The silver gilding he added on the page edges has a stunning mirror finish resembling highly polished chrome.

Jeffrey will customize your rebinding to your specifications and even emboss your logo into the leather, making whatever he rebinds a one -of -a -kind work of art.

For more details on post -Tenebrous Lux Bible rebinding, go to ptlbiblerebinding .com.

That's p -t -l -biblerebinding .com. Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, announcing a new website with an exciting offer from World Magazine, my trusted source for news from a

Christian perspective. Try World Now at no charge for 90 days by going to getworldnow .com.

That's getworldnow .com. I rely on World because I trust the reporting. I gain insight from the analysis, and World provides clarity to the news stories that really matter.

I believe you'll also find World to be an invaluable resource to better understand critical topics with a depth that's simply not found in other media outlets.

Armed with this coverage, World can help you to be a voice of wisdom in your family and your community.

This trial includes bi -weekly issues of World Magazine, on -scene reporting from World Radio, and the fully shareable content of World Digital.

There's no obligation and no credit card required. Visit getworldnow .com

today. Also check out World News Group's podcast, The World and Everything In It, at wng .org

forward slash podcast. That's W for World, N for News, G for Group, dot org forward slash podcast.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read.

He who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

You need to read. Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the

Prince of Preachers to heart. The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered,

Christ -exalting books for all ages. We invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com.

That's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past to present you can unearth from Solid Ground.

Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Was your business shut down during the

COVID -19 pandemic, depriving you of earning any money, causing you to default on your rent as you try to survive without income?

Maybe you've had to close your doors for good. The good news, you thought, was that you purchased business interruption insurance as a part of your business liability policy with a major insurance company who told you they are a good neighbor, or that you would be in good hands.

You filed a claim only to be told that it was denied due to the pandemic exclusion clause.

The pandemic exclusion? Since 2006, most insurance companies added this clause to enable them to deny your income loss claims in the event of a worldwide pandemic.

Do not give up. No matter what state you live in, call Buttafuoco & Associates now at 1 -800 -669 -4870.

Buttafuoco & Associates is a part of a large multi -district litigation, and they are working with lead counsel to bring what they believe will be a successful lawsuit for these claims.

It is the best way for you to proceed. There's absolutely no risk to you.

You do not have to pay them out of pocket, and there is no fee unless you recover on your claim.

You need to call 1 -800 -669 -4870 right now.

Trust the law firm where the attorneys at one of the largest business firms on Long Island, New York, are sending their own clients for representation during this lawsuit.

Buttafuoco & Associates, here to help business owners rebuild their lives in the wake of the pandemic, call 1 -800 -669 -4870.

I'm Dr. Tony Costa, Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary.

I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love,

Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jansen and Christopher McDowell.

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in his holy word, and to enthusiastically proclaim

Christ Jesus the King and his doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island, and beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love, as I have.

For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

That's hopereformedli .net. Or call 631 -696 -5711.

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

We are excited to announce another new member of the Iron Sharpens Iron radio advertising family,

Banu Gadi, owner of three New York pharmacies, Lee's Drugs of Floral Park, Long Beach Chemists, and Prescription Center of Long Island in Hempstead.

Banu Gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic.

Please contact Dr. Gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media.

To find the pharmacy nearest you, call 516 -354 -2000.

That's 516 -354 -2000. Or order online at leesdrugsrx .com.

That's l -e -e -s -drugs -r -x .com. Don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program.

Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Banu Gadi. I'm a pharmacist in New York, which is the epicenter of the latest crisis the world is going through.

In Psalm 139 verse 14, the psalmist offers praise to the Lord like this,

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well.

He saw God's goodness and mercy, kindness, and the beauty in what

God has designed, and he has erupted into praise. In any crisis or problem, brothers and sisters, our only fallback position is to trust

God's design, and once we do, there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him.

When the whole world is searching for a solution, God in his infinite mercy has given us what we need to address this illness, which can be very serious.

Such is the beauty of his design. Knowing that design, how can we not erupt in praise to our great

God like the psalmist did? May God bless you, and give all of us wisdom to see greater things in his design.

Thank you. This is

Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially. Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers, which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end of which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our

Sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ, today and always.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with, or switching to, the

NASB. I'm Dr. Joe Moorcraft, pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Anthony Uvino, founder of TheReformRookie .com

and co -founder of New York Apologetics, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Tim Bushong of Syracuse Baptist Church in Syracuse, Indiana, and the NASB is my

Bible of choice. I'm Eli Ayala, founder of Revealed Apologetics and staff member with the

Historical Bible Society, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Josh Miller of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Joe Bianchi, president of Calvi Press Publishing in Greenville, South Carolina, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jake Korn of Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, Florida, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB. Hi, I'm Buzz Taylor, frequent co -host with Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

I would like to introduce you to my good friends Todd and Patty Jennings at CVBBS, which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

Todd and Patty specialize in supplying Reformed and Puritan books and Bibles at discount prices that make them affordable to everyone.

Since 1987, the family owned and operated book service has sought to bring you the best available

Christian books and Bibles at the best possible prices. Unlike other book sites, they make no effort to provide every book that is available because frankly, much of what is being printed is not worth your time.

That means you can get to the good stuff faster. It also means that you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic, heretical, and otherwise faith insulting material promoted by the secular book vendors.

Their website is CVBBS .com. Browse the pages at ease, shop at your leisure, and purchase with confidence as Todd and Patty work in service to you, the church, and to Christ.

That's Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service at CVBBS .com. That's CVBBS .com.

Let Todd and Patty know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And you can call

CVBBS .com at their 800 number as well, 800 -656 -0231, 800 -656 -0231.

Only call that number Monday through Friday between 10 a .m. and 4 .30

p .m. Eastern Time. And we are now back with Brian Hedges.

He somehow got dumped off the phone line. You're there, Brian? I'm here.

Yeah, I don't know what happened there, but glad we got reconnected. Amen. Well, one of the ways that the

Puritans help us is to inspire our hearts to seek God's face in prayer. Can you explain a little further?

Yeah, the Puritans emphasize prayer a lot and are helpful in a number of different ways.

I think the Puritans are especially convicting in talking about private prayer, what they call secret prayer or closet prayer.

And I've already mentioned and we've agreed that Thomas Brooks is particularly helpful.

And he wrote a book called The Secret Key to Prayer. I think he called it The Privy Key to Prayer.

And for me, it's just one of the most convicting books I've read on the importance of your private prayer life.

And it's just full of exhortation and motivation and practical directions and instruction.

And we just go on. There are multiple books like that by the Puritans. They help us. We have an anonymous listener who wants to know, do the

Puritans or a specific Puritan that you can recommend give advice on helping to prevent our wandering minds when we pray?

I find praying at least meaningful prayer at great length very difficult. And it mystifies me why it is so difficult, because I do truly love the

Lord. And I truly do need to hear from Him in answers to prayer.

But for some reason, it is very difficult for me to at great length, pray to Him, commune with Him in a meaningful fashion.

Yes, another Puritan I recommend is Matthew Henry wrote a wonderful book called

A Method for Prayer. And essentially, Henry just guides his readers through different aspects of prayer and provides some sample prayers that they can pray and just ways to direct and frame one's prayer life.

It's kind of like an outline to direct praying. And I also think praying aloud can be helpful.

I think lots of believers struggle with wandering thoughts and prayer. I have as well. But praying out loud, if you can find a place where it's private and quiet, you're not being overheard.

And actually vocalizing and praying out loud to the Lord, I think can really help with your wandering mind and just articulate your thoughts.

And Matthew Henry would be encouraging to you. Well, how do we use the

Puritans as an aid to sustain us in suffering with the of God?

Well, once again, the Puritans, they wrote often and much about God's providence and about trusting

God in suffering and about contentment with the Lord's providence in our lives.

And they help us by pointing us to God's mercy and grace as our

Father and His wisdom as a sovereign God, a God who reigns, and to what they call the mystery of providence and how

God, in His guidance and His ruling of all events in our lives, how

He is working out His mysterious plan and His purpose. A wonderful book in that regard is

John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence, and it's another one of those Puritan paperbacks published by Banner of Truth.

Now, one of the 12 ways that you and Dr. Beakey list in Thriving in Grace that the

Puritans fuel spiritual growth is probably unexpected, especially in the language of the actual title of that chapter,

The Puritans Search Our Souls with Profound Psychological Insight. If you could offer some help on that.

Yeah, you know, I've already mentioned that the Puritans were physicians of the soul, so they were pastors and preachers, but they really dealt often with people's emotional and spiritual and psychological struggles.

So they were counselors, and their books are just filled with counsel on how to deal with the problems of the soul, the problems of the heart.

So the Puritans obviously predate modern psychology by several hundred years, and so what you don't find is the kind of psychological language that you find in so many books today.

But they are amazingly insightful in understanding how the human heart works and in how to specifically apply biblical truth to the human heart.

And they're also very compassionate. One of the great Puritans was Richard Sibbes, and he wrote a book called

The Bruised Reed, and it's a very compassionate book based on that text, the smoking wax you will not quench and the bruised reed he will not break.

It's famously a book that really helped Martin Lloyd -Jones at a difficult point in his life. And I can just point to book after book that's like that, where the

Puritans are addressing a specific emotional, spiritual, psychological problem, whether it's discontentment or discouragement, depression, anger, and they address these problems very holistically.

So they certainly look at the sinful aspects and point us to obedience, but they also do so with compassion.

They understand that there are often circumstantial things in our lives that cause us problems or that cause us trouble.

They point us to our ways of thinking. They help us understand how our temperaments figure into these specific trials and temptations.

So when I read the Puritans, I feel like I'm reading someone who knows the way I think and can give me counsel that's particularly helpful.

And I think other readers will discover that as well. Well, we are out of time. We didn't get a chance to tackle all 12, but we were just giving brief overviews of the main headings of this book, the main ways, the 12 ways that the

Puritans fuel spiritual growth. So we hope that that whet your appetite to get a hold of this book as soon as possible.

If you want to find out more about the book, you can go to heritagebooks .org, the publishers, heritagebooks .org.

I would urge you that after you go to that website that you purchase the book from one of our sponsors.

This way you help both Heritage Books and our sponsors because Reformation Heritage Books has to, or should

I say Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, cvvbs .com, has to purchase these books from Reformation Heritage Books.

So they will both win when you go to cvvbs .com, cvvbs .com

to make your purchase of Thriving Grace, 12 Ways the Puritans Fuel Spiritual Growth by our guest

Brian G. Hedges and Joel R. Beeke. And I also want you to know that Redeemer Church, their website for Redeemer Church in Niles, Michigan is redeemer .ch,

redeemer .ch. Do you have any other contact information or anything else you care to share for our listeners before we go off the air?

No, everything you've shared is great. So thank you for that. And I want to thank everybody who listened, especially those who took the time to write in questions.

I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior than you are a sinner.